Fucaia

Fucaia is an extinct genus of primitive baleen whale belonging to the family Aetiocetidae that is known from Oligocene marine deposits found in Vancouver Island, Canada and Olympic Island, Washington State.[1]

Fucaia
Temporal range: Oligocene
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Infraorder: Cetacea
Family: †Aetiocetidae
Genus: †Fucaia
Marx, Tsai, and Fordyce, 2015
Type species
†F. buelli
Species
  • †F. buelli
  • †F. goedertorum

Taxonomy

Two species, F. buelli and F. goedertorum (Barnes et al. 1995). F. buelli is of early Oligocene (Rupelian) age, while F. goedertorum is younger. The latter was originally described as a species of Chonecetus before it was recognized as more closely related to buelli than to the Choncetus type species.[2][3]

Biology

The tooth structure of Fucaia indicates that it was capable of both raptorial feeding and suction-feeding, like other aetiocetids.

Sister taxa

References
  1. "Data on the geographic and temporal distribution of cetacean genera". Paleo-Electronica.org. February 2007. Retrieved 2008-07-01.
  2. F. G. Marx, C.-H. Tsai, and R. E. Fordyce. 2015. A new Early Oligocene toothed ‘baleen’ whale (Mysticeti: Aetiocetidae) from western North America: one of the oldest and the smallest. Royal Society Open Science 2(12):150476
  3. L. G. Barnes, M. Kimura, H. Furusawa and H. Sawamura. 1995. Classification and distribution of Oligocene Aetiocetidae (Mammalia; Cetacea; Mysticeti) from western North America and Japan. The Island Arc 3(4):392-431


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